A new drop-in center has opened in Paris where migrants sleeping rough can charge their phones, take a shower or do their laundry. The center is open every day and also offers French courses, some healthcare services and legal assistance.
In the early 2000s, the Senegalese coast was a main departure point for migrants trying to reach Europe via Spain and the Canary Islands. The migrant route has since changed, and most migrants now pass through either Libya or Morocco. InfoMigrants went to Thiaroye-sur-Mer, a small fishing village on the outskirts of Dakar, where the majority of the unemployed youth have their minds set on one thing: Going to Europe.
Undocumented migrants and asylum seekers often don’t know that they are entitled to fare reductions. Within the Île-de-France transport system, discounts may be available for them.
After spending seven years in Spain, Issa went back to live in his village in Senegal. He told InfoMigrants that many people who are headed to Europe underestimate how hard life can be for migrants.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has set up call centers along popular migrant routes in West Africa, allowing migrants to phone home to their families for free. The two-minute calls help the migrants keep in touch with family members who can often go months on end without any news from their loved ones.
The City of Paris has announced that it is opening the doors of its long-awaited “Refugee House”, an activity center aimed at migrants and refugees, in June. The center will house a library and a café, and offer a host of activities, including computer workshops and conversational French classes.
Hussein landed on the Greek island of Leros with his wife and two children in January. After several weeks in a camp, the Palestinian family from Syria was relocated to the mainland. The International Organization for Migration settled them in a hotel in Vilia, a small town near Athens, with about 20 other families. A few hours after their arrival on March 15, the hotel was attacked by local residents. Hussein gave his testimony to InfoMigrants.
In Saint-Herblain, on the outskirts of the western French city of Nantes, an abandoned sports hall has become a squat for hundreds of migrants. The living conditions in the squat are dire, and the occupants say they have been left to fend for themselves. “Where’s the government?,” a 27-year-old Guinean wonders.
Just this weekend, a migrant in a detention center (CRA) in the Paris region attempted to take his own life. Another attempted to set a cell on fire. One non-governmental organization working with refugees and migrants, La Cimade, has sounded the alarm yet again over the deplorable living conditions in the CRAs.
Three times a week, the basement of the Notre-Dame des Foyers church in the 19th arrondissement of Paris is transformed. It’s here that migrants come to get clothes and food, to seek legal and psychological help. "We try to give them a little humanity," says the head of the program, Sister Marie-Jo.
The Libyan coastguard this week said it had intercepted some 500 migrants out at sea and brought them back to the Northern African nation during the course of 72 hours. The news comes just as Human Rights Watch has released a damning report in which it accuses the EU of contributing to the extreme abuse of migrants in Libya, saying the bloc is condemning the migrants to “nightmarish detention”.
Around 40 people in a holding center in Vincennes and 70 people in a center in Mesnil-Amelot, both in the Paris region, are on hunger strike. They allege police violence and a lack of access to adequate medical care; they say that their goal is to highlight the conditions in which they are being held.